RELIGIOUS FORMS OF JUCHE IDEOLOGY IN COMPARISON WITH CHRISTIANITY Philo Kim

DBPIA-NURIMEDIA

AN ANALYSIS OF RELIGIOUS FORMS OF JUCHE

IDEOLOGY IN COMPARISON WITH CHRISTIANITY

Philo Kim

It has become nowadays persuasive that North Korean

society uniformed by juche ideology and worship for the Great

Leader Kim Il Sung, contains sort of religious nature. It has

developed juche ideology into a sort of world or personal view

of life, and designated the birthplace of Kim Il Sung as sacred

precincts. North Korean Workers’ Party formulated the phrase of

propaganda, “The great leader comrade Kim Il Sung shall be

with us forever,” so that it attempts to carve him an immortal

being based upon juche theory of socio-political organism. Kim

Il Sung has now been praised not only as a historical hero and

national leader, but as an object of godly worship. The sacred

worship for juche ideology and Kim Il Sung is expressed in

various forms of behavior and rituals in North Korea. It was in

post-socialism era that the religious characteristics became

salient in North Korea. North Korea suffered from serious economic and military crisis at the times of the collapse of socialist

countries in the early 1990s. In the mid-1990s, North Korea suffered an extreme food crisis followed by mass starvation. Nevertheless, people’s discontent did not bring about any revolt in an

extremely difficult situation, rather they were led to overcome

the crisis by launching what so called “Arduous March.” From

International Journal of Korean Unification Studies, Vol. 11, No. 1, 2002, pp. 127-144.

Copyright © 2002 by KINU

all of these phenomena, many think that North Korean society

has now without doubt evolved into a sort of religious sect. In

particular, visitors to North Korea or North Korean defectors

often have often pointed out that the life style and values of

North Korean people are very similar to those of Christianity.

However, no systematic study has been performed regarding

the issues of religious property or Christian similarities of North

Korean society. In this sense, this study explores to compare

juche ideology with Christian religious forms, and tries to examine religious characteristics soaked in North Korean society.

I. Opening Remarks

It is a uniformly credible idea nowadays that the ideology of juche

and worship for the Great Leader Kim Il Sung, by which North Korea

is run, contain a sort of religious nature. North Korea has developed

juche ideology into a sort of worldview or personal view of life, and

designated the birthplace of Kim Il Sung as sacred grounds. On the

third anniversary of Kim Il Sung’s death North Korea proclaimed the

so-called “Juche Era” which counts the year of 1912, the birth year of

Kim Il Sung, as the first year, and enacted April 15, the birth day of

Kim Il Sung, as the Day of the Sun. The North Korean Workers’ Party

formulated the following propaganda, “The Great Leader Comrade

Kim Il Sung shall be with us forever,” attempting to carve him into an

immortal being based upon the juche theory of socio-political organism.

Kim Il Sung has now been praised not only as a historical hero and

national leader, but as an object of godly worship.

Worship of the juche ideology and Kim Il Sung as sacred is

expressed in various forms of behavior and rituals in North Korea. All

the people in North Korea hang portraits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong128 An Analysis of Religious Forms of Juche Ideology in Comparison with Christianity

il in the best room in their houses and clean these photos every day.

The people take good care of each portrait and statue related to Kim Il

Sung and Kim Jong-il. Many people pay homage to the statue of Kim Il

Sung in the early morning every day. They usually decorate with

flowers and make a ceremonial bow to the portraits on the birthday of

Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong-il. They do the same rituals on New Year’s

Day.

It was in the post-socialism era that the religious characteristics

became salient in North Korea. North Korea suffered from serious

economic and military crises at the times of the collapse of the socialist

countries in the early 1990s. In the mid-1990s, North Korea suffered an

extreme food crisis followed by mass starvation. Nevertheless, people’s

discontent did not bring about any revolt even in such an extremely

difficult situation. Rather they were led to overcome the crisis by

launching the so-called “Arduous March.” The former secretary of the

North Korean Workers Party, Whang Jang Yup, pointed out correctly

in his press conference in 1997 that “North Korea is currently suffering

an economic crisis, but there is no danger for North Korea to collapse

because it is well solidified politically.” Through these phenomena,

many think that North Korean society has now without doubt evolved

into a sort of religious sect.

Most North Korean defectors realized North Korea had strong

religious characteristics only after they did leave their society. It is very

common for North Korean defectors in South Korea to feel uncomfortable when they say the name of Kim Il Sung without the lording word,

“great leader” for many years. Some of them say, “Kim Il Sung shall

not be forgotten forever in my heart,” or “I shall not be completely free

from Kim Il Sung until I die.” It usually takes one to two years at the

shortest to come out of the feeling of Kim Il Sung’s godly authority

even for the defectors who have converted to liberal democracy by

deserting the North Korean system. One defector confessed from

his experience that it is not possible for North Korean defectors to

Philo Kim 129

overcome “Kim Il Sung” in their truest heart. This implies that Kim Il

Sung is carved as an absolute god to the people in North Korea.

In particular, visitors to North Korea or North Korean defectors

often have pointed out that the lifestyle and values of North Korean

people are very similar to those of Christianity. Kim Hyun-hee, who

was arrested for the terrorist act of blowing up a KAL airplane,

confessed that she worshiped Kim Il Sung as God in North Korea, and

that her life would be meaningless if the existence of Kim Il Sung were

taken from her life, in the same way that Christians would be without

God. She says that it is not an exaggeration to compare the relationship

between Kim Il Sung and the people of North Korea to that of ‘God

and men.’ When she read the bible she was surprised, saying “The

bible is just like juche ideology. Juche ideology can be understood much

faster after studying the bible. It is possible to put the name ‘Kim Il

Sung’ instead of Jesus in the Bible.”1 She mentioned that she was forced

to memorize ten principles which are similar to the Ten Commandments; she performed weekly life-summation sessions just like Sunday

worship service; and she learned the concept of unity of the Party,

people, and the Great Leader, similar to the idea of trinity.

However, no systematic study has been performed regarding the

issues of the religious properties of Juche or similarities with Christianity

in North Korean society. In this sense, this study attempts to compare

juche ideology with Christianity in its religious forms, and tries to

examine religious characteristics saturated within North Korean

society.

130 An Analysis of Religious Forms of Juche Ideology in Comparison with Christianity

1 Kap-jae Cho and Ho-seung Chung, The God of Kim Hyun-hee (Seoul: Kosikae, 1990),

pp. 71, 103.

II. Religious Phenomena in Socialist Society

and Religionization of Juche Ideology

A religion has at least three general characteristics; a worship for

“the sacred,” performance of religious rituals, and maintenance of

social community.2 In other words, religious experience is always

revealed through thought and ideology; it expresses itself through

rituals and ceremonies well-framed with words and behaviors; and it

takes the form of an organization or community in which acceptance of

membership, occupancy of status, and division of roles are mandated.3

Despite differentiation in the degree of complexity and institutionalization of the three forms in each religion, it has to have all the three

forms, that is, dogma which is a theory form, ritual which is a practical

form, and community which is a social form, if it is to be called as

religion.

In this sense, it is not a recent phenomenon to regard socialism

itself as a kind of religion. Socialists and communists expelled religion in socialist society by accusing it to be the ‘opium of the people.’

Ironically, however, ideologies of socialism and communism occupied the same place instead where a religion once resided. Karl Marx

himself believed that the positive values realized in a religion could

be a guiding idea to reform human destiny.4 In this respect, socialism,

which is a positive self-awareness of mankind, functions as a religion.

The ideology contains religious characteristics in that it demands

commitment to a political leader or ideology or any membership

group.

Juche ideology has also consolidated its religious nature over time. It

Philo Kim 131

2 Joachim Bach, “Universal elements of religion,” Seung-hae Kim, ed., Understanding

of the Study on Religion (Seoul: Boondo Press, 1986), pp. 115-141.

3 Kyung-whan Oh, Sociology of Religion (Seoul: Seokwangsa, 1990), p. 49.

4 Robert C. Tucker, ed., The Marx-Engels Reader, 2nd Edition (New York: W.W. Norton

& Company, 1978), p. 93.

developed from the principles of independence and a revolutionary

mass line in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Since 1967, when a personality cult campaign for Kim Il Sung was carried out nationwide, juche

developed into a political discourse of a ‘monolithic ideological system’

to rationalize a theoretical system of dominant political leadership. This

brought about “Kimilsungism” and a revolutionary attitude toward

the great leader, emphasized beginning in the early 1970s. From the

mid-1970s, socialist collective values and norms in social relations

began to be stressed by the launching of ‘the human remolding

project,’ which was aimed at revolutionary comradeship and obligation, collectivism and heroism. After the philosophical dimension of

juche ideology was theorized in 1982, the man-centered juche philosophy was furthermore underlined. Then, in 1986, it developed into a

socio-political organism theory coupled with the theory of the great

leader and a collective social organization. Since the post-Cold War era,

it emphasizes the concept of ‘nation’ and ‘Chosun nationalism,’ so that

it theorizes the supremacy of ‘our style of socialism’ as different from

other socialist system.

Juche ideology has been developing from a simple ideology to a

religious belief. The religious dimension in juche ideology began to

form with the advent of the theory of the great leader, and further

intensified with advancement in its philosophical study.5 The crucial

moment when juche ideology was transformed into a religious faith

was, however, the time when the socio-political organism theory had

been completed. The fact that socio-political life was separated from

the physical aspect of human life decisively contributed to the evolution of juche ideology into a religion. The advent of spirit has become

very important in the process of religious evolution because it transformed divided souls into a collective object which can be owned and

132 An Analysis of Religious Forms of Juche Ideology in Comparison with Christianity

5 Myung-sae Kim, “An Evaluation from Christian Perspective on Human Remolding

Theory of Juche Ideology,” Master’s Thesis, Graduate School of Theology, Baptist

Theological University, 1996, pp. 32-36.

worshiped in turn by individuals.6 As it changed to the theory of the

great leader, philosophy, and socio-political organism, juche ideology

evolved into a religious belief.

III. Dogma and Belief System

Christian dogma and its belief system are outlined in systematic

theology which includes theories of God, Man, Christology, Church,

Salvation and eschatology.7 Juche ideology can be also explained by

dividing it in the same way as mentioned above. First of all, juche

ideology rejects the abstract concept of God transcending the realm of

human experience because it is based upon the values of Materialism

and the theory of evolution. Instead, the belief and confidence in the

coming of the ultimate communism replaces the metaphysical God.

Moreover, Kim Il Sung is regarded both as a mediator who realizes the

absolute value, communism, on this earth as the Supreme Being, just as

in Christianity metaphysical God is incarnated into a human being,

Jesus. Kim Il Sung is not recognized exactly the same as God is in

Christianity so far, but the possibility cannot be ruled out that in the

future Kim Il Sung, who is now ‘invisible’ since his death, will secure a

divine status like God in Christianity, if the theological aspect of juche

ideology is further developed. After the 1980s it has been especially

emphasized that Kim Jong-il possesses legitimacy and a divine nature

as the ‘son of the father.’ Just as Jesus secured divinity to succeed and

achieve the covenant between God and man in the Old Testament,

Kim Jong-il is endowed with a divine authority to succeed and realize

the great task achieved by his father.

Philo Kim 133

6 Emile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life: The classic sociological study

of primitive religion (New York: Collier Books, 1961), pp. 309-333.

7 Louis Berkhof, translated by Soo-kyung Kwon and Sang-won Lee, Systematic

Theology (Seoul: Christian Digest, 1998).

The monolithic ideological system and ‘the great ten principles’ in

North Korea have something in common with Christian monotheism,

demanding that believers serve only God, and this has even been

stipulated in the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments,

which are indisputably accepted as God’s words, provide the basic

laws for all Christians to obey. Likewise, it is ‘The Ten Great Principles

to Consolidate the Monolithic Ideological System’ that regulate and

judge every word and action of the people in North Korea. In this

context, it is understandable that the juche ideology exists in the subform of Kimilsungism stipulated as ‘The Revolutionary Ideas of

Comrade Kim Il Sung.’ Juche ideology cannot be separated from Kim Il

Sung and/or Kim Jong-il himself, who maintains an absolute divine

position commanding stricter codes of behavior than Christianity.

Second, the nature of man is likely to be the most similar area that

can be compared between juche ideology and Christianity. When

Christianity focuses on man, leaving alone the theory of God, the

Christian theory of man in the views of man and human life has

marked common features with juche ideology. Juche ideology does not

regard man as a sheer biological being, nor a unique characteristic

according to the way individuals are organized, but as a special being

which has a consciousness.8 It does not analyze man into a physical

body and consciousness - rather it grasps him as a whole entity which

retains the two simultaneously. However, the post-materialistic view

of man has been theorized recently, so this view seems to be not shared

by most of the ordinary people in North Korea, particular those of the

older generation.

Third, the role of suryong, the great leader, is imperative to the

dogma of juche ideology, just as the being of Jesus is indispensable in

Christianity. It is said that it is necessary to have a suryong in juche

134 An Analysis of Religious Forms of Juche Ideology in Comparison with Christianity

8 Kim Jong-il, “On the Need to Maintain Proper Perspective and Correct Understanding on Juche Philosophy,” Selective Works of Kim Jong-il, Vol. 10 (Pyongyang: North

Korean Worker’s Party Press, 1997), pp. 296-304.

ideology who leads people and unites popular strength in order to

achieve socialist revolution and construction.9 It espouses that the

ordinary popular masses, including the working class, can succeed in

revolution and construction only when they serve suryong and fight

under his tested leadership. The necessity of suryong is said to be

the revolutionary truth, which is the objective characteristics of revolutionary struggle and construction of a working class and is verified by

the hundred year-long international communist movement. Juche

ideology can be understood as the religion of suryong in the sense that

suryong occupies the absolute position like God in Christianity.

Fourth, the notions of salvation and everlasting life in Christian

belief can also be found in juche ideology. North Korea has kept a sort

of myth that the suryong Kim Il Sung liberated and delivered their

people from Japanese colonial rule. It is said that he delivered, through

the anti-Japanese military struggle, the people of ‘our nation Chosun’

who were suffering under Japanese colonial oppression. Juche ideology

endows people with not only a past deliverance, but also a future

salvation, that is an everlasting life. It divides human life between the

physical and the socio-political, and maintains the eternity of the sociopolitical life. The theory of a socio-political organism is the driving

force in transforming the political ideology into a religious belief and a

life-view in the sense that it deals with the life and death of individuals,

something that had not been touched upon by Marxism-Leninism.10

Fifth, the collectivist principle of “one for all and all for one” in

North Korea is consistent with the communitarian doctrines of

Christian church. In the doctrines of Christianity the church, comprised

of Christian believers, is expressed as ‘the body of Jesus Christ,’ so that

man can exist only within the Christ’s body, that is, within the body of

Philo Kim 135

9 Social Science Publishing House, Dictionary of Philosophy (Pyongyang: Social Science

Publishing House, 1985), p. 376.

10 Yong-kon Park and Wha-hyo Kim, Introduction to Juche Ideology (Tokyo: Kooweolseobang, 1989), p. 257.

God’s people. According to the theory of socio-political organism, the

suryong Kim Il Sung is the brain of the body, the party is the blood

vessels, and the people are individual parts of that body. Suryong, the

party, and the people compose a trinity, a unified and indivisible

whole. The theory of socio-political organism is identical with the wellknown theory of body and parts stated by the apostle Paul.

Sixth, the Christian belief maintains that the present world is to be

terminated and it will come to an end with a great calamity when

Jesus’ second coming happens: with the second coming of Jesus the

entire resurrection takes places; it brings with it the Last Judgment;

and ‘the kingdom of God’ is completed. Likewise, juche ideology

espouses the ultimate victory of socialism and communism and the

realization of a communist paradise on earth. These eschatological

ideas helps endure the current suffering while it gives us a hope for

the coming of paradise some day and makes us anticipate the final

triumph of the belief. North Korea teaches their people to overcome

their current ordeals by anticipating the realization of communist

society. In this regard juche ideology emphasizes the building of ‘the

strong and prosperous nation’ which suggests the communist

paradise, so that people should be patient during the present hardship. At the same time, it stresses that paradise has ‘already’ been

realized on this earth, just the full-realization of the communist

paradise is delayed. And also, just as Christianity stresses the fighting

against the power of sin and Satan, juche ideology encourages a

combat spirit to overthrow Satan’s power, which is identified with

capitalism and imperial power.

IV. Religious Rituals and Behavioral Norms

North Korea performs worship services of meeting and study in,

what they call, ‘Rooms for the Study of the Revolutionary Ideology of

136 An Analysis of Religious Forms of Juche Ideology in Comparison with Christianity

Kim Il Sung,’ which is like a church building in Christianity. It is said

that the Study Room for the Revolutionary Ideology of Kim Il Sung is

the place to learn the revolutionary ideology, juche ideology, and the

high morality of Kim Il Sung, and that is established in all areas of

people’s lives such as the “Party, state departments, factories, enterprises, cooperative farms, education, culture and science departments,

People’s Army and security forces in North Korea.”11 It is estimated

that there are about 450 thousand Study Rooms for the Revolutionary

Ideology, including those held by administrative and industrial units

and armies nationwide.12 Various swearing-in ceremonies, meetings

to delivery the letter of loyalty, and so forth, as well as study activities

are held in the Study Room. The place is regarded as solemn and

sacred location distinguished from ordinary or profane locations

because the place is believed to be deeply related to Kim Il Sung.

Just as Christians hold weekly services and meetings such as

Sunday service, Wednesday worship, early-morning prayer, Friday

District meeting, quiet time meditation, and family worship, North

Korea performs various weekly meetings and study sessions including

weekly lifestyle summation review, Wednesday Lecture Meeting,

Morning Reading Session, Monday study session, neighborhood units

study session, all-night work, and early-morning worship. Through

these systematic study sessions and meetings North Korea maintains

faith in juche ideology. Among them, the lifestyle summation review

which meet in every company and organization on Saturday, is the

most important religious ritual in that it fulfills a sort of reflective

religious ceremonial function.13

Lifestyle summation review is performed in every unit of the JuvePhilo Kim 137

11 Social Science Publishing House, Dictionary of Politics (Pyongyang: Social Science

Publishing House, 1973), p. 156.

12 An interview with a defector, September 29, 2000.

13 Philo Kim, Religious Nature of North Korean Society (Seoul: Korea Institute for

National Unification, 2000), pp. 113-124.

nile Corps, Youth League, Trade Union, Union of Farmers, Women’s

League, and the Party in all departments and organizations nationwide

including factories, government, companies, schools, and the army.

The lifestyle summation review is basically held in units of primary

organizations. Usually, in the case of ordinary workers, it is held by

work teams in companies or workshops. The summation is classified

by period into daily, weekly, monthly, half-year, and yearly reviews. In

summation review, the way it proceeds is like a church worship in that

people first quote the words of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong-il, followed

by self-criticism on the basis of the words. It is similar to a church

sermon where a pastor first reads the words of Jesus from the Bible

before he gives lessons about the people’s daily lives based upon the

words. Self-criticism is comparable to prayer to God with repentance

and resolution, which is the root to maintain the religious nature in

North Korean society, distinguishable from other socialist systems.

Just as Christians cherish the Bible, that is the words of Jesus, and

try to find every direction of behavior from the Bible, North Koreans

have the scripture of juche ideology, that is, the directions of Kim Il

Sung and the words of Kim Jong-il, so that they think and behave

based upon their directions and words. As a hymn is an important

means to powerfully motivate Christian faith, praise songs for Kim Il

Sung and Kim Jong-il are mobilized in formal and informal events in

North Korea. Like in Christianity, where words of the Bible are quoted

in daily conversation and academic literature, in North Korea it is the

same. Words like ‘consent’ and ‘proclamation,’ which are requirements

for religious rituals, are used; such religious words as ‘grace,’ ‘love,’

‘faith,’ ‘atonement,’ ‘salvation,’ ‘eternity,’ and so forth are frequently

used14; and buttons of Kim Il Sung’s portraits are worn like a cross for

Christians. All these phenomena reveal the religiosity contained in

138 An Analysis of Religious Forms of Juche Ideology in Comparison with Christianity

14 Richard Tait, “Hidden Christian Doctrinal Concepts in North Korean Ruling Techniques,”

Master’s Thesis, Graduate School of Public Policy, Sogang University, July 1994, pp.

47-57.

juche ideology. And both Christianity and juche ideology have set kinds

of formal and public procedures to admit new members.

V. Ethics and Organization of Community

Religion exists in the form of a community in which members have

shared values, feelings of attachment, and social solidarity. Juche ideology devised norms of behavior, so-called ‘guiding principles’ which

are suggested as practical guidelines. The fact that juche ideology

attaches great importance to such practical values as morals and ethics

shows a strong religious nature. It also has common points with

Christianity in that both evaluate the moral traits of man by the standard of goodness and evilness. Juche ideology calls for various practical

activities such as ‘good-conduct campaigns’ and ‘movements for

“modeling after”’ and an emphasis on a practical movement which

composes a crucial part of communist moral education, and is an

important aspect of the religious inclination of juche ideology.15 Collectivism in North Korea is emphasized as a “mass line” in the area of

political economy, and it gives full play to ‘communist laudable

customs’ in social life. The practice of asceticism and abandoning

material greed is a very similar religious ethic to Christianity. Christianity in North Korea, in fact, underlines the ethical and practical

aspects of Christian belief rather than the theological dimension,

revealing that religion is recognized as a moral community in North

Korea.

Religious community varies depending upon how fervent is the

faith to the absolute being or how strongly the social relation in the

community is oriented to collectivism. The degree of religiosity of juche

Philo Kim 139

15 Myung-sae Kim, “An Evaluation from Christian Perspective on Human Remolding

Theory of Juche Ideology,” p. 36.

believers varies by individuals, and sub-contents of juche ideology are

also recognized differently in intensity by individuals. The community

of juche believers can be classified into four categories according the

strength of their faith; a fanatic who “puts the demand of juche into

practice,” those who have both faith and doubt, “sham” believers who

are not able to speak a word without inserting words of “textbook”

juche ideology; and the unbelievers who do not accept it at all. It is

estimated that each category is composed of 25 percent of entire population.16 The juche community differs in the degree of faithfulness by

class, strata, and generation.

It is the Organization and Guidance Department and Propaganda

and Agitation Departments of the Korea Workers Party that correspond to the brain of society and control and manage the organizational

life of juche community in North Korea. As the organization of priests

and church community guide systematically the tasks of recruitment of

priests, education of believers and mission, the Organization and

Guidance Department and Propaganda and Agitation Department in

the Party are in charge of education of juche ideology so as to manage

study activities and indoctrination of the people through formal and

informal channels. “Juche” in early childhood education and school

education are systematically practiced in North Korea just as ‘Sunday

School’ for children is an important part in Christian education. Adult

education by organization and social status is stressed and the study

materials for them are renewed every year. The Central Committee of

the KWP runs special colleges to train expert cadres like seminaries in

Christian religion. All of these organizational activities contribute to

maintaining of identity of the juche community.

140 An Analysis of Religious Forms of Juche Ideology in Comparison with Christianity

16 Philo Kim, Religious Nature of North Korean Society, pp. 157-161.

VI. Background of Facilitating Christian Religious Forms

in Juche Ideology

Where does the Christian influence embedded in North Korean

society come from? Many people speculate that it is because of the

Christian family background of Kim Il Sung. It is very interesting that

Kim Il Sung was born of and raised in a sincere Christian family. In this

respect, it would be mostly likely that it is from Kim Il Sung’s Christian

background that juche ideology retains Christian traits. Both his father

Kim Hyung-jik and mother Kang Ban-suk were sincere Christian, and

Kim Il Sung used to attend Sunday school regularly with his mother.17

In his middle school days, Kim Il Sung was actively involved in church

activities when he was taken care of by Reverend Son Jong-do, and

even led a students’ choir in Rev. Son’s church.18 From his father’s

experience of Christian belief, Kim Il Sung received a great influence

that is closely connected with the Anti-Japanese independence

movement. From his mother he received religious influence strongly

because he was raised with his mother’s family members like Kang

Don-uk and Kang Yang-uk, both of whom were well-known Christians in Korea. Although Kim Il Sung did not have Christian faith, he

surely had a far more profound knowledge about the content of the

Bible and church activities compared to contemporary Koreans.

Kim Il Sung had a harsh and intense experience about Christianity

when he was faced with systematic opposition from Christians in

the process of power building after liberation. He appeared to have

developed a negative attitude toward Christianity, in particular, in the

process of the ‘Boycott of the Sunday Election’ and the Land Reform.19

Philo Kim 141

17 Kim Il Sung, With the Century, Vol. 1 (Pyongyang: North Korean Worker’s Party

Press, 1992), p. 104.

18 Kim Il Sung, With the Century, Vol. 2 (Pyongyang: North Korean Worker’s Party

Press, 1992), p. 16.

19 Kim Il Sung, Collective Works of Kim Il Sung, Vol. 2 (Pyongyang: North Korean 

While Kim Jong-il is well known for what he had done for religionization of juche ideology in the 1970s, few things are known about his

experience in Christianity. However, it is a wild speculation that

since he lost his mother in his young age, he was raised by relatives

who probably had Christian a background. Although Kim Il Sung

and Kim Jong-il are not Christian, they had personally experienced

Christianity and so they received a stronger influence from it than

ordinary Koreans. The ideas and values that Kim Il Sung and Kim

Jong-il had were formed through their Christian family background,

such as nationalism, priority in ideology and belief, the mission of

‘evangelization’, and the building of paradise that Kim Il Sung had,

and priority in consciousness and morality that Kim Jong-il placed.

Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong-il had opportunities to contact the

doctrines, admonitions, and way of life of Christianity quite frequently

through their Christian family background, meetings with Christians

and experiences of challenges by Christian churches. Based upon his

Christian experience in his early days, Kim Il Sung was likely to utilize

Christian ways intentionally while he was in his power. Although it

was not intentional, their contact with Christianity would have powerfully influenced them in ruling and organizing North Korean society.

Therefore, it is not difficult to draw the supposition that although they

denied religion as being the “opium of the people” officially, Kim Il

Sung and Kim Jong-il could learn ways of life, organizational principles and core dogma and lessons from their Christian experiences, and

they then adapted these to their society. However, it is not easy to

verify empirically how their Christian experience influenced and what

concrete processes it was manifested in. It is furthermore difficult to

prove whether the manifestation was intentional or unintentional.

It is not reasonable to conclude that the similarities with Christianity

142 An Analysis of Religious Forms of Juche Ideology in Comparison with Christianity

Worker’s Party, 1979), pp. 513-524; Selective Works of Kim Il Sung, Vol. 1 (Pyongyang:

North Korean Worker’s Party, 1967), pp. 249-250.

that juche ideology holds through its religious forms is solely derived

from the Christian background of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong-il. The

similarities with Christianity that juche ideology seems to have are also

have some sort of affinity to other Korean traditional religions like

Confucianism, or to social changes like the Korean War. In particular,

the nature of the religious state of North Korea could spread in a

chaotic social environment such as the Korean War was. North Korea

continued to maintain its authoritarian military culture by stimulating

war experiences and crisis consciousness about war in its people. It is

highly likely that the strong religious nature of North Korean society

could have been expedited by critical social conditions like war in the

same way that Christian religious forms seem to be interrelated with

circumstances of drastic social change like war and revolution. It also

helps to understand the similarity of juche ideology with Christianity in

seeing that the theory of communism itself is more similar with the

Christian religion than with any other. Kim Il Sung, who had learned

the Bible and received a Christian education in Sunday school in his

early years could easily theorize through an analogy to Exodus the

‘liberation myth’ that the fatherland was liberated and delivered from

the oppression of Japanese colonial rule, and he could naturally utilize

the Christian ideas of equality and paradise toward the building of an

ideal communist society.

VII. Conclusion

Juche ideology is changing into a religion through continued and

repeated religious activities in North Korea. Considering the importance of being and the role of suryong in it, juche ideology can be called

the ‘religion of suryong.’ Since the religion of suryong has not yet been

fully developed into a world religion like Christianity, however, it is

still questionable whether it should be called as a religion or not. This is

Philo Kim 143

especially because the religion of suryong fundamentally differs from

other world religion in the object and nature of worship. Nonetheless,

the religion of suryong is strengthening in its religious color as it

intensifies idolization and deification of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong-il.

In this regard, juche ideology is no more a mere political ideology of

state, but it occupies a position beyond political ideology, that is, the

religion of suryong to worship unconditionally and deify Kim Il Sung

and Kim Jong-il.

It is highly probable that the religious characteristics of juche

ideology in North Korea may bring about severe social conflict and

psychological depression in the process of unification. Considering that

worship of Kim Il Sung by North Korean people is just like that of

Christians to God, North Korean people shall suffer psychological

emptiness when they would be brought to live in a world without Kim

Il Sung. These people, who think to live without Kim Il Sung is like a

life without purpose, will surely need a religious faith to give meaning

to their lives. In this process, therefore, we need to prepare to overcome

this social conflict through utilizing various fields of medical science

such as mental therapy, psychology, sociology, and counseling.

What is important here is how we can separate from juche ideology

the worship of Kim Il Sung which has become the root of the religion

of suryong while maintaining and developing communitarian life.

During times when North Korea makes endeavors for the coexistence

of the suryong worship and world religion, South Korea needs to make

a realistic evaluation of Kim Il Sung and to develop a theological

theory to countermeasure the suryong faith. We need to make great

efforts in separating juche ideas from Kimilsungism in preparing

rational critiques to advocate national liberation theory based on liberation theology while restraining the deification of Kim Il Sung. Moreover, the religious world should attempt ideological and cultural

exploration all the more including intensive study of juche ideology in

order to prepare for the era of unification.